1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications devices. In particular, the present invention relates to remote use of wireless communication devices, including remote dialing and other alternative methods of dialing phones.
2. Background of the Invention
Some types of remote operation of wireless communications devices are known in the art. In particular, “voice dialing” features allow a users of a device to dial a phone number by simply speaking a phone number or an otherwise identifying word associated with the number. A user could say the word “home” to dial his home phone number. Another method of remote dialing involves using a BLUETOOTH™ headset or external keypad.
Though these remote dialing features can be quite convenient, they often require extensive individualized training of the software on the device. For instance, the user must repeat specific phrases or numbers multiple times so that the voice recognition features of the device can be properly calibrated. Through the use of more sophisticated voice recognition software, it may be possible for the user to forgo having to train their device in this manner. Nonetheless, often such devices still require an extensive set-up, for example, by requiring the user to speak an identifying word (“home”) for each phone number to be stored for voice dialing. Although such procedures might not be prohibitive for individual users, a large company wishing to equip 500 workers with such devices might find these procedures too tedious and expensive, especially considering that one particular phone might have multiple users, not all of whom may have the same accents or language capabilities.
As well, either method for implementing voice dialing tends to be unreliable even under ideal conditions. Ideal conditions for voice dialing provide limited or no background noise and a device microphone having close proximity to the speaker's mouth for clear voice recognition. Despite these, repeat attempt are normal in today's voice recognition software, and some types of sounds are harder to detect than others. Furthermore, conditions are not always ideal for voice dialing. For example, a worker trapped in a collapsed mine might be physically separated from the phone in a noisy environment with many obstacles between the user and the phone. If the worker is injured, it is possible the worker may not be able to speak clearly or at all. These and other similar emergency conditions can limit the use of current remote dialing methods.
Clearly, there is a need for a wireless communications device that can be remotely operated without requiring extensive set-up, would be less dependent on an ideal operating environment, and would still be useful in non-ideal situations, such as emergency situations.